Eve Tushnet passes on the question for you folks:

I wondered if you–and perhaps your readers, if you’re interested in throwing this out to them–had any thoughts on how Catholics can do a better job of transmitting pro-marriage, pro-family beliefs _and actions_. In other words, what can we do that would make it more likely that children raised Catholic would make good and lifelong marriages, refrain from sex out of wedlock, etc.? If you have any thoughts on "what works," I’d love to hear them; and would be really interested in your readers’ opinions too…

Brief thoughts:

1. Talk about marriage and sexuality realistically, from day one. Too much of what we hear (when we hear anything) is nothing but platitudes. Our understanding of marriage as Catholics, like anything else, would be greatly enhanced by rediscovering the role of sacrifice in the experience of living an authentically joyful life.

2. Encourage and praise priests and deacons who have the guts to say "no" to sacramental weddings to people who shouldn’t be getting married. Stop the largely unquestioned practice of marrying couples who are cohabitating unless they agree to separate and be chaste for six months. (I am just throwing this off the top of my head). What pre-marital sexual activity and cohabitation does is, in too many case, trick a person (especially younger people) into thinking that they are intimate when in actuality they are just sleeping together. That type of pretening to be married before you’re married also traps more people than we can count – people who have doubts, but have built up lives together, as well as expectations. I call it the Matrimonial Express. It’s damn hard to stop, and contributes nothing to helping men and women make halfway objective decisions. (Halfway, because you know, if we were all objective…who would get married? Okay, I would have, but still. It’s a balance, and I don’t think contemporary culture helps. The Church should shake that dust from its feet and be bold.)